The USA is sanctioning hate and death in Africa by NGO Chrisitan Fundamentalists.

What is there to say. Bush's Supreme Court stated separation of church and state is not absolute. Now we are sanctioning the deaths of people through disease and promoting hate based in religious dogma. I never said this was okay. I never stated faith based initiatives were okay in a foreign nation with delicate health status of it's citizens with governments that already hate gays.

I never agreed to this. The first act of Bush the day he got into office in 2001 was to cut the funding to Planned Parenthood in countries where the people considered it to be benevolent. So, instead of adding to the health of women, Bush sent hate instead. Real good.

They don't represent me in any nation, including the USA. 

Bush's AIDS effort was to bring about a compassionate face to this offensive by the Religious Right. If one can't prevent HIV with a condom, then why not treat it with drugs. Besides, the drugs would increase pharmaceutical companies profit margin. It is more than appropriate African nations produce their own medications for the treatment of HIV, but, Fundamentalist Christian NGOs don't belong in Africa.

This film was astounding. It is amazing to realize The West provides plenty of 'red meat' to rouge countries.

It is extremely well done. The filmmaker was harassed by the USA Consulate when he applied for his travel papers. From some very strange reason that I simply don't understand the USA Consulate was under the impression he wasn't wanted in the USA. Imagine that. A filmmaker being impeded in his travel to a country where Freedom of Speech is so important. Hard to believe, but, when I heard the obstruction at LAX after the travel papers were issued;I realized I heard that story before. Okay, then.

"Trust"

"It isn't exactly a documentary. It is more general cinema, but, it is an excellent examination of child sexual assault. It is a really good film for any parent's group. It also has an African American woman in a powerful position to retrieve the family from the brink of dissolving. Really good film.

Still yet another reason to get rid of the guns. Oh, getting rid of guns is inflammatory and politically dangerous. But, watching the death toll, no problem.

1 August 2013 Last updated at 19:34 ET

By Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC World Service

 

Shifts in climate are strongly linked (click here) to increases in violence around the world, a study suggests.

US scientists found that even small changes in temperature or rainfall correlated with a rise in assaults, rapes and murders, as well as group conflicts and war.
The team says with the current projected levels of climate change, the world is likely to become a more violent place.
The study is published in Science.
Marshall Burke, from the University of California, Berkeley, said: "This is a relationship we observe across time and across all major continents around the world. The relationship we find between these climate variables and conflict outcomes are often very large."
The researchers looked at 60 studies from around the world, with data spanning hundreds of years....

Paulson set himself up real good, didn't he?

He or most of his buddies could NOT be prosecuted and they all dumped on the French Fry Guy (rather that the true blue Freedom Fry Guys) from the University of Chicago.

Amazing. 

Why not scapegoat one person just for the 'red meat' political folks out there?

By Ben Protesse
August 1, 2013

Fabrice Tourre, (click here) the former Goldman Sachs trader at the center of a toxic mortgage deal sold to investors on the eve of the financial crisis, was found liable on Thursday for civil securities fraud.

Five years after the crisis, he is the only employee of a big American bank to lose a courtroom battle to Wall Street’s top regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission. The S.E.C. took only a handful of employees to court over the crisis, but most cases were settled.

After two days of deliberation, the nine-person jury concluded that Mr. Tourre misled investors about the mortgage deal, capping a more than two-week civil trial in one of the most prominent cases involving the 2008 crisis.

Of the seven charges facing Mr. Tourre, the jury found him liable on six.

Mr. Tourre, a 34-year-old Frenchman who is enrolled in a doctoral economics program at the University of Chicago, now faces a fine, or worse, a ban from the Wall Street. The verdict raises questions about his lawyers’ decision not call a single witness, a show of confidence that failed to impress the jury....

Mr. Snowden is a national hero in more than Russia. He should get on with enjoying Moscow for the next year.

Mr. Snowden should not compromise his status in Russia.

WE'VE GOT THIS NOW, Edward. 

Promise.

If you want to be strong, you need to be strong, too. You need to write on a personal page or blog how life is going. We and your new Russian friends might be able to help you navigate your new temporary home. Many people are relieved you are okay.

WASHINGTON, August 1 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s decision (click here) to grant temporary asylum to fugitive former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden deals a blow to bilateral ties, US lawmakers said Thursday.

“Regardless of the fact that Russia is granting asylum for one year, this action is a setback to US-Russia relations,” US Sen. Robert Menendez saidin a statement Thursday, hours after Snowden’s lawyer in Moscow announced his client had been granted one year asylum in Russia and left a transit zone at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

The White House had not commented on the report as of Thursday morning but was expected to make a statement later in the day....

I am sorry to hear some members of Congress are using this problem for political purposes. Opposing Russia is not where the USA should be. Russia has provided a safe haven to someone that was leaking information with a provision he will not leak anymore USA material. That is an act of friendship by Russia. They have admitted Edward Snowden to Russia because they don't extradite. That is their sovereign right and they, no different than the USA, do not violate long standing policy. 

The USA needs to continue to work with Russia on many issues, including, non-proliferation, Iran's nuclear program, the talks with North Korea and securing our peoples away from the very real and increasing threat of the Climate Crisis. 

Russia has proven itself worthy in many ways to be affiliated with the USA on much larger issues than a computer hacker who worked for Carlyle. I have said this before and I'll say it again and again; Mr. Snowden is not the problem; Carlyle and equity companies like Carlyle ARE the problem. Wall Street is out of control and has become predatory. We need to stop it.

"A Conputer Driven Life"

They pissed me off. They should not have pissed me off. You can control my steering wheel, dig into my online computer capacity, but, you will never stop my thought processes. As a matter of fact the further along this computer dominated EXISTENCE proceeds in the USA, the more thought processes I have.

Twilight Zone. Americans are sheep and never think anything through. Scary.

PALO ALTO, Calif.— Drivers here already gawk (click here) at Google's self-driving car zipping around the freeways. In California, Nevada, Florida and the District of Columbia, the future of transportation is now: All four jurisdictions are setting ground rules for self-driving cars on the roads.

The trend is spreading. In this year's legislative sessions, nine more states debated driverless car bills. While most of the bills died in committees, Michigan's bill is likely to pass by the end of the year with support from Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, a former tech titan who advocated for the new car technology....

What will happen to Mad Max when his driveless car delivers him to a trial by computer? "Dying Time is Here."

Oh, no a computer glitch and Mad Max had a fatal accident on the way to trial by corporate computer.

Oops. We need Alfred Hitchcock back to create a movie called "The Cars."

Food for thought.

I heard a broadcast on NPR yesterday where Michigan wants to eliminate the state income tax. Something like $8.1 million.

It ticked a long held believe I have about this Republican paradigm so I may as well just put my thoughts out here about this idiocy.

What if any government that collects taxes through VOLUNTARY submission of tax forms didn't need any voluntary submission. Basically, when a person files their required tax filings it is somewhat voluntary. The IRS has information about income and the like, but, one still has to file.

What if that wasn't necessary? What if there was no need for the IRS? What if governments could collect taxes second by second as all those that use their credit cards online can spend their hard earned dollars in a blink of an eye. What if the government used the Wall Street method of split-second money making?

What if there was a General Use Sales Tax at every level of government instead of income taxes? Great idea, right? I mean the government could continue to leverage the Poor and Middle Class when they purchase good at Sam's Club or Walmart. That should not be a concern, they aren't paying income tax after all.

But, what stops the government if Americans decide it is completely out of control? What stops the government at any level from receiving REVENUE? 

Once a General Use Sales Tax is instituted by government at any level it turns it loose to conduct itself without regard to the citizen. Why vote? The government runs on automatic and we go about our daily lives. Why bother with government at all? Just let Corporate America take over the lives of Americans and simply divide up their chunk of the dollars received through the General Use Sales Tax. 

Now, when I hear the GOP ranting and raving about the IRS SCANDAL I am grateful they are still ranting and raving and pretending there is a scandal. The GOP is attempting to get on every citizen's LAST NERVE so they can have their corporate paradigm become reality.

Government of by and for the corporation. What could be better? After all Microsoft has this 'keyword' national security 'thing' down pat by now.

That form of SPYING on citizens is ACTIVE surveillance and NOT passive surveillance. Keywords. There was no offshore anything that one would consider the type of METADATA described by the government to be sought in their surveillance. I don't make calls to offshore ANYTHING. Nor do I receive calls from offshore anything. 

My "File G" will tickle the Microsoft Crawler FOREVER because they'll NEVER find it. 

I will have my CUSTOM MADE DESKTOP professionally scanned and rebooted before I hook up my offline files again. Shame on everyone.

This is what Microsoft was looking for. It has absolutely nothing to do with any online update.

NTFS Log

NTFS is a journaling file system and uses the NTFS Log ($LogFile) to record metadata changes to the volume.

It was looking for File G in the NTFS Log. I never do any online dialing like "skype" or music downloads. Never do. It is not something I trust, so I just don't do it.

I also have an autonomous "File G." The computer would have a memory of that. Microsoft won't find it. It is a large plug in memory storage unit. I only use it offline. I don't want it corrupted.

The request literally stated, "I would do this if I were you." It was huge. It had three steps and it was seeking to validate security codes.

It was all Blue Screen. It stated it removed about 30 or more files. I am not the least bit worried because I don't store my personal data or what I would consider to be important and personal information on the computer. That large offline file never sees the light of day. It was specially made for me and I paid for it myself through a commercial enterprise. We did not break the law.

I sincerely don't care what Microsoft took. I have stated before there is nothing here I am concerned about. 

And, Oh, by the way. I am allowed to have a warehouse of large offline storage if I want to, so go straight to hell. 

The files I use for looking at satellites demand a large capacity.

The government needs to get out of my life. There isn't anything here you bastards and now everyone knows and this is Wall Street in cooperation with NSA.

Michael Moore...

...I mention I am attending the Traverse City Film Festival and come home to AN INTERVENTION by Microsoft stating they want to examine my disk drives.

Why is that, Michael Moore?

This is not the first time this has happened. It has happened before. Michael Moore appears on my computer and all of a sudden Microsoft wants to evaluate the drives on my computer. No lie.

I guess everyone that goes to the Traverse City Film Festival has super secret Michael Moore files downloaded onto their computers.

Amazing.

I swear on a stack of whatever book you want me to swear on, Microsoft must have a crawler in cyberworld looking for certain combinations of words and when "Michael Moore" or "Traverse City Film Festival" or "The State Theater" appear together the crawler automatically believes it is a conspiracy to be investigated.

Has to be. One time. Okay. But, twice? No way. There is not that much coincidence in the world. 

You know part of what Wall Street does is PROVE to the White House how careful they are with the nation's security. How much of a PARTNER they can be. They don't belong seeking permission to examine my files stating, "I would do this if I were you." and they sure as hell don't belong interpreting the national security of the USA.

Caught ya. 

Snowden.

CARLYLE. 

Hello?

People should be giving this guy some respect. He has a heroes following in Russia without being in the country.

Patricia Zengerle and Alina Selyukh Reuters

6:15 p.m. CDT, July 31, 2013

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New revelations (click here) from former security contractor Edward Snowden that U.S. intelligence agencies have access to a vast online tracking tool came to light on Wednesday, as lawmakers put the secret surveillance programs under greater scrutiny.

The Guardian, citing documents from Snowden, published National Security Agency training materials for the XKeyscore program, which the British newspaper described as the NSA's widest-reaching system that covers "nearly everything a typical user does on the Internet."...

Less than six weeks after Mr. Snowden left a six figure job and leaked information that exposed the underbelly of the NSA there was a vote in the US House that nearly passed. It nearly passed because of the actions of Mr. Snowden. 

I think he is still waiting for a temporary asylum in Russia. He knows there hearings in the USA about the NSA program. Now, especially, since the most recent vote. He wants to make sure the NSA doesn't lie. 

I was chatting with a DOD employee today and of course all this came up. He laughed and stated, the DOD lies about most everything. Which brings me to my next point. Secretary Hagel is bemoaning the Defense Department Budget Cuts.

Too bad. We've heard it all before. January is just THE NEXT ROUND of "The Sequester." Get over it. It is going to happen.

The F-35 is NOT a technological edge. It is a piece of junk. Hagel can remove that from his bag of tricks and his budget will be just fine. No one else wants it, why should the people of the USA buy it either?

Why throw good money after bad?

"Doug Loves Movies"

This was simply pure fun. It was a live podcast and the audience had a stake in the show. It was the first time Doug Benson performed at TCFF. I hope he comes back next year. He is a lot of fun and he does love movies.

"No" Fascinating film.

Of course, the simple yes or no vote removed Augusto Pinochet from his dictatorship.

This was the public face of the revolution, but, it was pivotal. It is doubtful of the regime would have been defeated without the commercials allowed to promote 'ideas.' 

Anyone carry out elections anywhere should watch this film. It was a positive campaign for the "No" vote. The folks that lead the defeat of Pinochet were very interested in building a sense of self, hope, change and a new Chili for the future. The focus of "No" was very much about the future. There was a past element and it was poignant, but, I won't give it away. Everyone should see this picture and realize how easy it can be to slip off the edge of democracy.

But, the political ad campaign was all positive, affirmed the deepest wishes of the people. All Pinochet could do is copy their creativity of the opposition and try to undo the momentum it built. The people Pinochet was behind the "Yes" vote at the point of silly mimicking. 

The ad campaign alone did not change Chili. Many people died in opposition to Pinochet. They died during the elections. 

As I watched film I thought of Zimbabwe. They are entrenched in failure on all fronts of the nation. The currency is worthless. They are now using USA dollars. The government has been under the leadership of Mugabee for over thirty years and it is nearly impossible to unseat him regardless of the failures he has caused.

Perhaps Chili's model should be considered for countries struggling to unseat detrimental power.